The Shadow War
by The Lonesome Rose
Summary: In 3056, Earth is primed for termination by the Shadow Proclamation. The Doctor finds himself pitted against a new form of alien intelligence that knows nothing but duty and destruction. When he is seized by his enemy, Rose will be left to pick up the pieces and assemble her own team to save the Doctor and Earth. Crossover with Star Wars and Avengers
1. Prologue

The basic universal threat metre was applied to every star, every planet, and every habitation in space that served as home for some species or other. The metre went from 1 being the lowest to 10 being the highest. As a planet gained in weapons and off-world communication it was deemed a threat by the Shadow Proclamation, the organization that distantly monitored the progress of all planets, and the metre rose in increments. Earth stood at 8.3.

"Oh dear. That's not good at all" said the Doctor, tapping the scanner in agitation. "These readings...why they're practically off the scale."

Jamie leaned in for a closer look. He knew precious little of the TARDIS workings and even less so about what the Doctor was on about now. All he knew was that whatever boded ill for the Doctor was usually likewise for him. "So that's bad then? What's that for?" he poked a finger at the scanner results. A warning blared and he leapt back in surprise with an indignant Scottish insult when sparks flew from the scanner. "Doctor, your ship's acting funny again!"

"Well, how would you like to be constantly poked and prodded by a high-strung highlander? You humans- always have to touch everything!"

"I'm not high-strung," Jamie protested. "And how about how you're always messing about with no results? I don't think you know the first thing about flying the TARDIS." He folded his arms tight across his chest, sure that he'd won this verbal battle.

The Doctor made a face that was half frown half pout. Jamie thought he always made funny faces when he was angry. He tried in vain to hold back a snigger.

The Doctor noticed, shook his head in exasperation with a mutter against Scots who couldn't take anything seriously, and returned attention to the scanner. "I think you'd be a bit more concerned, seeing as that's your planet down there."

"Yeah, but what time?"

"That chrome over there," he said with a nod to the panel furthest from him. "You know which one."

Jamie complied, twisting the dial like a pro having done it at least a hundred times and rattled off the year. "3056, Doctor"

"Yes, yes, that's what I was afraid of" murmured the Time Lord to himself.

"What's so bad about this year? I think it sounds fine. Can't we go out for a look?" Jamie scampered to the door, like a child in the bliss of a holiday.

The Doctor sighed at the simple ignorance of his young companion. He was too young sometimes. "Jamie, I think you'd better listen to me first."

"Aw, but I wanna go out and see. Can't it wait?" He glanced from the door to the Doctor and back again, fidgeting impatiently. Adventure sparked in his eyes. Oh he'd become so used to this life of time travel, taking it all in with the wonder of a child. His simple mind was incapable of understanding and fully appreciating everything, but he did try. If ever he had to part with his dearly loved companion, the Doctor knew it would break his hearts.

"Doctor, aren't you gonna tell me?" Jamie could barely stand still.

The Doctor took one look at his companion and knew he couldn't burden him with the knowledge he held. "Never mind, Jamie, never mind" He nodded to the doors. "Go ahead and take a look."

"You're sure it's not important," hedged Jamie.

"It can wait."

Jamie grinned from ear to ear as he swung round to throw open the door,

"Be back here in three hours" the Doctor called after him.

"Wait. Aren't you coming?"

"Not this time. TARDIS maintenance" he said quickly.

Jamie shrugged. "Like that's more fun than exploring a new time. I'll tell you all about it when I come back."

The Doctor warily eyed the metre which had risen to 8.7. A blip appeared on the adjoining scanner, signaling a new alien ship had dropped into the atmosphere. With a few adjustments, he increased the focus of the scanners. His hearts fell when he recognized the ships as that belonging to the Shadow Proclamation.

They had come at last.

Not for nothing had he deliberately tried to avoid the galactic law enforcement. In another time, in his previous regeneration, he had seen them.

 _"No, I don't think you understand correctly, Doctor. When Earth or any habituated land space for that matter, be it moon or satellite, must be destroyed when it reaches 10 on the threat metre for the good of the galaxy," said the Shadow Architect firmly. "No exceptions"_

 _"Isn't that a bit harsh? They're only human after all."_

 _"I do hope you don't plan to go rogue on us. Haven't you enough rifts with your own people without causing trouble for yourself with us?"_

 _The Doctor sniffed in indignation. "The High Gallifreyan Council was always a pig-headed lot and I don't care if you tell them so."_

 _"Treason," whispered the Architect. "I do think you'll like our newest addition though. See here." She turned and smiled when an eight foot silver robot in humanoid form but devoid of all features save a visor entered._

 _"My word. What is that mound of metal?"_

 _"Our finest achievement yet" said the Architect in a tone of wonder. "Gort is a new height in artificial life created for the sole purpose of galactic enforcement."_

 _"So basically it does your dirty work for you."_

 _Gort riveted on his metal heels to tower over the Doctor. **Peace comes with an iron fist. Do you dare say otherwise?**_

 _"Ah, you make them telepathic now. I don't like it."_

 ** _You are not required to "like" me. Nor am I required to "like" you. We are obviously on different sides. You will be the one to pay the price._**

 _"I've seen all I wanted to see." Crossly, the Doctor rounded on the Architect. "I've seen plenty of terrible things in my lifetime, but I never thought it would be from the Shadow Agents that I meet the worst. You're a disgrace to your species!"_

 _ **Your opinion cannot be allowed. This is the future. Accept it or die from it** Gort stood proud on the spot; his featureless face troubling the Doctor. **We will not stand for your arrogance**_

 _"As I will not stand for yours," retorted the Doctor. "There comes a time when your insatiable desire to create artificial life will come too far. One day it will be them controlling you. And you will wish to the heights of the cosmos that you listened to me when I'm the only one left in the galaxy with any determination not to be subdued by them." He stared hard at the Architect. "I guarantee it."_

 ** _You know nothing._**

 _"On the contrary. My natural intelligence" he tapped his head "is more than you'll ever have. You may be all forceful and shiny on the outside, but what's in the inside?"_

 ** _Irrelevant. I contain all that is necessary to enforce justice. Earth and its worthless stunted beings will not be spared. You may try to stop them, but it will come._**

 _"More soon than you think," said the Architect in agreement. "We estimate that Earth will be primed for destruction in 3056. If you're unfortunate enough to be there then, you'll die as well."_

"We come to it at last." the Doctor considered, tapping one finger against his chin. He couldn't stay in here. That much was clear. Perhaps there was still a chance to save Earth, if he could make the Shadow Agents see reason. If he didn't, Jamie and all the rest of humanity would die.


	2. Chapter 1

**Present, Time Vortex**

The TARDIS was quiet. Normally the time rotor would be humming as it rose and fell, the sound of adventure. But now it was still as they drifted along through space. The Doctor tapped his foot impatiently, eager for some excitement. In a vain effort to make things move along, he reached out to push his closest piece a space forward but received an icy glare from Rose.

"But I don't play chess."

"Well you're going to today _like you promised_." Rose Tyler Sigma, all Time Lady and even more frustrating, finally slid her queen forward and released her two-fingered grip on it. "Your move."

"And humans actually do this for fun," he mused aloud as he moved a pawn forward. "For _fun_."

Rose kept her eyes on the board, surveying all her possible moves. "Well for someone who finds throwing himself into trouble fun…" she looked up when an alarm sounded. Her eyes narrowed at the Doctor. "Did you…?"

"Nope!" The Doctor hopped up, moving around the console to get a glimpse of the TARDIS' exterior on a screen. "I would never intentionally tell the TARDIS to make up trouble. We've got another ship inbound." He frowned, tapping some keys to get a better angle. "If I didn't know better, I'd say it was galactic law enforcement, but I haven't done anything."

Rose raised an eyebrow.

"Not lately," he corrected. "In fact, you should keep a low profile until we know what they want. After that whole business with the Master making you a Time Lady, who knows how many rules he broke." *****

She was already dumping the chess game back into its back and retreating down the hall into a hidey hole the TARDIS would provide for her. "Be careful."

The Doctor paced around the console, hands twitching at his sides for a weapon he swore he'd never use. His dealings with the Shadow Proclamation had been less than friendly on a number of occasions. Like the Gallifreyan Council, they were extreme, ruthless and stubborn. Especially their top enforcer agents, rhino-headed Judoon that were storming into his TARDIS with every single blaster barrel directed at him.

"Now that is unnecessary." He held up his hands to show there wasn't a weapon hidden in them. Well, there was his sonic screwdriver but these bull-headed mercenaries didn't need to know about _that_.

"The Doctor will come peacefully and no damage will come to his ship."

"The Doctor will not. I've been behaving, at least according to your rules." He took a few steps closer, hands clasped behind his back, to show he wasn't the least bit intimidated by their weapons. "Let me guess, you restricted this part of the Time Vortex just because I was happening to fly by. Still sore about that little business on the moon and getting picked apart by the Shadow Proclamation when they found out you endangered dozens of innocent humans?" (DW, S3 _Smith and Jones_ )

The leader Judoon's nostrils twitched in irritation.

"Thought so. Now, if you won't mind me being a sore host, I'd appreciate if you all marched out of my time machine so I can go save the world."

 _ **The Doctor will be detained until justice is administered**._

The Doctor stopped cold, both fear and angry rooting him to the spot. He hadn't heard that voice for nearly seven hundred years but it was still all too soon. "Is it time already?"

Gort was every bit as impassive as the first time they'd met, but the Doctor knew what the metal monster was capable of. **_You will come or I will destroy your TARDIS._**

 _With extreme pleasure too_. He'd love to laugh in their faces and do something clever to sweep them all out but there was Rose now.

Slowly, Gort's visor slid up and a spark of light narrowed into a beam of energy which struck the TARDIS console.

"What are you doing to my TARDIS?!" Alarms blared, signaling that Gort had done the damage he intended. "Get out! Get out now!" The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the doors. "If I deactivate the protective shields and open that door, not even you'll be able to survive raw space. I'm warning you… get out right now or I _will_ do it." He stared down Gort, refusing to back down an inch. "This is about 3056, isn't it? You're trying to take me out so there's no one left to stop you from committing planetary genocide."

 _ **Correct.**_

"Then I'm not sorry." Without taking his eyes off Gort, the Doctor aimed his sonic at the console. Behind the Judoon and Gort, the TARDIS door flew open. The protective shields down, the empty vacuum of space sucked greedily into the ship. Gort clomped forward, an invisible force anchoring him to the floor as the Doctor made a dive for the closest level and clung with all his strength.

 ** _Nor am I._**

* * *

Her time circuits damaged from Gort's blast, the TARDIS streaked through the time vortex. The cloister bells echoed through the halls as Rose dashed from the control room. Ever since she'd absorbed the time vortex, a small part of it had remained in her and made her more aware of the TARDIS… like now, she could feel the ship's pain.

"Where are you taking me?! We have to save the Doctor!" Rose skidded into the control room, nearly colliding into a support beam before the TARDIS righted herself with an effort. But that last effort cost the TARDIS her last ounce of control when she plummeted headlong from space into the atmosphere.

* * *

 **Earth 2036**

Jamie stared, mesmerized, by all the colors and motions around him, as he tried to see everything at once. He stood of to the side so as not to get caught in the bustle of the crowds. His eyes wandered from the people, to the signs, to the marketplace stalls, to the shops and the ships flying overhead. All the noise and movement made him dizzy, but it was the good kind.

"Hey" a pert female voice prompted Jamie to turn around. A bright-eyed brunette watched him keenly as she leaned over her marker stall. "You're new here, aren't you?" she cocked her head slightly, a smile spreading across her face.

"I might be," said Jamie guardedly.

"Which side are you on?" her smile faded. "Are you one of the government agents come to spy on us?"

"Huh?"

"You heard me. Think you're so high and mighty, don't you. Sitting up there in the fortress as we slave away. They'd blend in about as well as you are," she said, staring as his kilt and highland clothes. "What in the five systems are you wearing?"

"Hey" Jamie's voice took on a tone of warning. "Whatever's wrong with my clothes?"

"If you're trying to disguise, you're doing it very badly."

"I'm not in disguise. This is what I always wear- uh, or something like it" he amended. He drew up dignantly. "Country pride and all that. Haven't you got patriotism in this time?"

"In this time?" she repeated quizzically. "You're talking like you don't belong here."

"Well. There's an awful good reason for that if you bothered to listen."

"I take it you're not working for the government then."

Jamie bristled at the assumption. "Me working for them? Not me. I'm a Scot," he said, jerking a thumb at himself. "I don't even belong here! Look, I came with a friend called the Doctor in the TARDIS and I have no idea about any government here."

The brunette gave him a long appraising look, sizing him up. "Alright. I'll believe you." She thrust out her hand. "My name's Kaylee."

"Jamie" he responded, giving her hand a shake. "So tell me about this government."

"What's there to tell? The people in control established a total monopoly of the planet- we haven't been able to do anything about it for years."

"Couldn't you all just hop in your spaceships and fly away?"

"If only it were that simple. They monitor all the spaceports so I can only wonder how _you_ got here."

"We didn't actually come in a proper ship- not like the kind you're used to anyway. It looks different." Jamie thought fast. "What if I could get you off?"

"You hardly know me."

"So?" he wouldn't be deterred. "You could get a life off here to anywhere, if it's as bad as all that."

"I'm not leaving till the situation is resolved," retorted Kaylee. "We've been building up weapons and we're going to strike. Tonight. Are you with us?"

Jamie knew the Doctor would be very cross indeed when he found out, but he wasn't thinking about that. "Yeah, I'm in."

Kaylee smiled as they walked, almost hand in hand, down the streets taking in all the sights. "You know, for all the time I've been here, it's been all about the revolution and I never got the chance to really live,"

"Oh look at that!" Jamie steered her over to watch a troupe of dancers. "Aren't they great? Hey…I bet we could manage something. C'mon"

Kaylee laughed helplessly. "But we just met. You've got more than your share of determination if you think we could ad-lib something like…"

"Just watch me. Do what I do. It's easy." Jamie began a simple version of the highland fling, humming a native Scottish melody as he performed the steps. Glancing sideways at Kaylee, he cracked a grin when he say her copying his actions. "Hey…you're doin' it!"

An accompaniment to their dancing struck up in the lively tune of strings and recorder when the members of the dance troupe had stopped their own activities to watch the couple. They began clapping in time, while their hoots of encouragement penetrated the lively tune playing.

For Jamie, the dance and the music were a little bit of home to him. Not that he wanted to be through traveling with the Doctor, but he kept rather high ideals of home loyalty. "Hey, you're a right Scottish lass," he said in a whispered praise to his dance companion.

"I'm ready to take it further," she replied challengingly.

"You're on!"

Both of them danced up a storm, feet moving faster than they thought possible. Jamie linked arms with Kaylee and they danced in a circle, first one way then the other. Smiling…laughing…

When they finally came to a halt, too dizzy to manage anymore, the music gave way to a round of enthusiastic cheering.

"Whatta show! You kids aren't bad at all." The troupe leader tossed Jamie a recorder. "A bit more practice and you'll be able to take it on the road. If you ever want to hook up with us, we won't mind any!"

Jamie glanced at the recorder, awed. "Gee thanks. Be seeing you around then" he waved back at them over his shoulder as he and Kaylee went on their way. "This'll be just the thing for the Doctor. You'll like him…and the TARDIS!" he rambled on cheerfully. "What till you see it. Sure it's a little different, but it's the good kind."

"We're running out of time" interrupted Kaylee.

"Huh?"

"The freedom fighters. Jamie, we've worked so much for this and it's the only chance we're going to get."

"But the Doctor…" Jamie glanced vaguely in the direction where the TARDIS waited. "He'll be very cross if I don't get back." One glance at Kaylee and Jamie knew where his loyalties (and heart) lay. He knew about the needs for revolution more than anyone from fighting the redcoats back home. "Guess the Doctor can manage without me for a little while."

* * *

The Doctor paced up and down the length of the control room worriedly, wringing his hands as he kept glancing down at the scanners. No movement had come from the alien ship yet so he still had time. He racked his mind for a solution. Anything! "Useless…all useless" he moaned at the expansive facts and figures that filled his mind. "If I just had more time to stop them!" Behind him, the metre on the console hit 9.1. The Doctor took one look at it and wasted no time in striding hastily from the TARDIS.

"Excuse me" the Doctor called to the owner of a chippy stand. "Yes yes, highly unorthodox, but have you seen a young lad about so tall…with brown hair and odd clothes?"

The owner frowned and extended a hand. "That's information, pal, and around here information only for money."

"But I haven't got any," said the Doctor. "It really is important. Lives depend on…"

"No money, no answers," said the owner unsympathetically, turning away.

The Doctor huffed and headed down the street. "Jamie! Jamie!" he called, hoping to see his companion pop up from a side street. "I shouldn't have let you wander off on your own" he muttered, eyes roaming from side to side as he walked. "If only I'd listened to my common sense and told you. Jamie…where are you?"

* * *

 **Present, time and planet unknown**

Rose uttered a soft groan as she hauled herself up from the floor. Everything seemed intact. It was the TARDIS that had taken the worst of the crash. Only the emergency lights winked on and off; the rest of the ship was dead. Even when Rose tried to reach the ship telepathically, there wasn't as much as a spark of response from the ship.

"It's just me then." She said it aloud, vainly wishing for the Doctor to pop out of some corner. Steeling herself, she headed out the doors into the unknown.

 **Note: **** In my personal DW canon, the Master breached the parallel world and coerced Rose into joining him with the claim that he was an associate of the Doctor's. Using some of his own DNA and the Chameleon Arc, the Master succeeded in altering Rose Tyler's biology to Time Lady. As a result, she has a psychic bond with the Doctor and a psychic link with the Master.


	3. Chapter 2

**Earth 3056**

A good while had passed in which he'd almost given up hope, when he noticed a small group of people creeping through the shadows. In their arms were a deadly array of atomic grenades and hand-launchers. One glance and he knew this was how the metre had gone up so rapidly.

"Wait! Stop!" he chased after them. "You can't launch those! Do that and the whole world gets destroyed!"

"Doctor?"

"Jamie, thank heavens!" said the Doctor in relief. "Help me stop them. There's a Shadow Agent arrived intent on destroying Earth and it's all due to these weapons! Get rid of them!" He made to tug the assortment from Jamie's arms, but his companion drew back haughtily.

"They need those. To fight the government. It's just like back home with the redcoats…I know what it's like for them and I can help."

"Launch those and there won't _be_ a government anymore! What part of _complete Earth destruction_ don't you understand?!"

"We're wasting time," said a woman with a significant glance at Jamie. "If he won't help, get him out of here."

"Jamie, help them understand!"

"Sorry, Doctor, but I'm with them. Meet you at the TARDIS later."

* * *

There was no changing his companion's mind he knew. His only hope lay now in stopping the Shadow Agent. "Surely they'll understand," he said to himself as he hurried along back to the shadow ship. "One little revolution and they need a big fuss? They're quite overreacting. If I just explain the situation, surely they'll see reason. They can't possibly destroy the world over a tiny revolution."

 _ **We will.**_

The Doctor spun around to see Gort striding towards him, from behind his ship though. "Can't you be reasonable? It's all just a mistake!"

 _ **We warned you this day would come. You cannot stop the enforcement of justice.**_

"But if you'll just listen…!"

In response, Gort's visor slowly slid up to reveal blackness beneath. A spark of light grew into a beam. Sensing what was coming, the Doctor made a bolt for the TARDIS. He'd just made it to the doors when a ray of pure energy struck him, penetrating him to his very being. "No…can't…let…!" he fumbled with the key to unlock the door then slumped to the floor senselessly. "Can't rest…"

Gort grabbed the Doctor by the collar of his shirt and hauled him upwards to dangle a foot from the ground. _**You are made of sterner mettle than I thought.**_

"A case in point that you might want to consider," said the Doctor hopefully. "Haven't you given a few thoughts on the legendary rage of a Time Lord? Very unpleasant to witness. You're forcing me to desperate measures."

 _ **You can do nothing against me.**_ To prove his point, Gort tightened his metal grip on his prisoner.

"You'll want to think twice about killing me. The Time Lords…just think of all that trouble you'll have with them if you do. They won't like it. Not one…"

 _ **You are nothing more than a renegade, Doctor. Your fate matters little to them**_

Gort had a point, but still… the Doctor fought in vain as the huge robot carried him up the ramp into his spaceship to unceremoniously dump him in a corner. He looked lazily on his prisoner as one might look on a pest and gave a bark of laughter.

 _ **First I deal with Earth and then with you**_ Wasting no further words, Gort waved his hand over the door controls to exit the ship.

"No! I won't let you!" the Doctor sprang up to seize the robot around its metal waist and drag him back but it had little effect.

Contemptuously, Gort flung the Doctor inside and sealed the door behind him.

Death and destruction lay in the Shadow Agent's path, the Doctor knew, but trapped here, there was nothing he could do about it. Gort was unstoppable. Earth's inhabitants had no chance against him.

* * *

 **3056, place unknown**

Very little natural light came into the dull cell. Most of the light came in through thin shafts in the ceiling above him. The next thing he noticed was the metallic smell—everything gleamed silver from the walls, to the hard cot he'd been laid on. If there'd been a door, the Doctor would've counted his lucky stars since his sonic had somehow been tucked into his pocket and not confiscated, but the door appeared to have merged seamlessly into the wall.

Déjà vu. He'd been here before in a younger incarnation.

"Well this is no way to treat a guest." The Doctor hopped up and began meticulously examining the opposite wall. Since Rose wasn't with him, nor could he feel her nearby, he could only hope that the TARDIS had protected her. "Why Earth?! What has that meager little planet ever done to you anyway?"

 _ **Because it is your favorite. You have invested too much time into protecting a species doomed to fail from the beginning.**_

He paused, sonic pressed to the metal of the wall. Finger hovering over the button. It made sense he'd have been allowed to keep it if Gort was here keeping guard. "Well now that's a bit biased. I can think of a dozen other species that have caused far more trouble than a planetful of humans. Daleks? Slitheen? Sea Devils? Have none of those made their way onto your radar yet?"

 _ **Your companion is no longer human. Explain.**_

The Doctor held his tongue. Did Rose's lack of being human make her safe now? Until he could determine Gort's intentions, Earth and its inhabitants would be the only discussion topic he was going to use.

 _ **Explain**_

Calmly, the Doctor tucked his sonic away and eyed the wall. "Why don't you join me in here and we'll have a little chat. Better yet, we can switch places. I would be far more compliant if I was on that side of the door."

* * *

The TARDIS had landed half propped against a tree and it took Rose some effort to haul herself out. When she did, she noticed she'd landed in a cemetery—a sea of tombstones spread out before her. Not far off there was a man clad in a worn dark jacket chewing on a cigar and watching her with interest. He glanced at the police box, confirming it, then kept his attention on her. She brushed off her clothes, edging away from him when she saw him sniffing the air. Nearly catching her foot on a stone, Rose glanced down to see her own name etched in stone.

"When you said you regenerated, I figured you'd stick to one gender." He kept his distance, which Rose respected, but her head snapped up as soon as the casual mention dropped.

"No I'm—wait, you've met the Doctor."

He nodded. "You smell like him, but not quite. Same species? Time Lord?"

"Time Lady," she corrected in a murmur, still thinking this through. Had the TARDIS come here for a reason? Taking a chance, Rose blurted out, "If you know the Doctor, then he needs your help. I need your help to get him back." She came closer, noticing his battle-weary face. "If you know him, the ship singled you out and crashed here for a reason."

The man pulled out his cigar, rolling it between two fingers as he glanced at the ship again. "You're his wife, aren't you? You're Rose Tyler." He pointed at the grave marker she was standing over.

Rose huffed and moved to stand on top of the grave so she wouldn't have to look at it. "I don't know when you met him, but as you can see, I'm very much alive and I need your help."

He considered this. "Suppose I did…what comes after?"

"So the satisfaction of saving the world isn't enough for you?"

"Never said it wasn't." He glanced back over his shoulder although Rose could see nothing there, his voice dropping to a mutter. "Heaven knows I've saved it more than my fair share of times. But what's left here… empty memories of a life that's long over… yeah" his voice returned to a regular tone as he made his choice "Yeah, I'll go."

* * *

 **New York City, present**

"How come it's always aliens? Why can't we have an invasion of vampires or something that at least requires a little more strategy than Stark yelling 'go right, go right, no, not your right, _my right_!'" Clint Barton tore his eyes from the road ahead just long enough to glance down at his phone in one hand that tracked how far he was from the alien readings. "What did New York ever do to them?"

"Manifest destiny," said Coulson decisively. "And stop monologuing over the comm."

Clint deliberately sped up to avoid a red light, narrowly missing an oncoming car that tried to turn left in front of him. Good thing SHIELD hadn't equipped his car with hidden cameras yet. "You need to pick an opinion and stick to it, Phil. Krakow? St. Petersburg? You kept begging me to keep monologuing."

"I needed you to stay focused on not dying."

"And then there was _Tahiti_." He couldn't resist a snicker at the sudden comm silence from his handler's end. "Your turn to do dinner tonight."

"All your least favorite foods."

"Cruel, cruel. If I'm the one chasing down all these ET sightings, the least you could do is splurge on a steak. Oh. I see it." Slowly the car, Clint idled in front of his target. "Uh, unless ET has a thing for antique blue boxes, I think we're dealing with something completely different."

"Describe it."

"Big blue box with police public call on it. Weren't these from the 60's or something?" Making a decision, Clint slipped from the car and drew a gun as he approached the box. "If this thing's from a collector, it needs to go see a restoration. Or five."

"Barton"

"I've got this." He couldn't resist a grin at _that_ tone though. Worriment and concern. Keeping his gun raised, Clint pushed open the door and stepped inside. Before he could back out, swearing that what he was seeing had to be a joke, the door snapped shut behind him.

The blue box faded and disappeared.


End file.
